September 2008 Archive

Los Angeles, (Sept. 30, 2008) — The Screen Actors Guild released the following statement from SAG National executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen in response to the AMPTP's Sept. 29, 2008 statement: "We are disappointed to hear that the employers and their AMPTP representatives are refusing to engage in the process necessary to complete a deal. We do not believe that their rejection of our reasonable request is in the best interests of our members or the… Read

I’m told that Lorrie Bartlett and Chuck James will be joining ICM as senior agents in the motion picture talent department after working at the Gersh Agency for several years. Their clients include young talent like Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou, Megan Fox, Zoe Saldana, Eliza Dushku, Elisha Cuthbert, Mena Suvari, Dennis Haysbert, Kelly Macdonald, Rodrigo Santoro and Jordana… Read

Now that the new Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince pic has been delayed, this Warner Bros faux flack has some choice words for angry Harry Potter fans.
SPOILER ALERT… SPOILER ALERT… SPOILER ALERT… SPOILER ALERT…
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This email is making the rounds from the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences to Hollywood’s name talent criticizing the U.S. Post Office for this stamp issued September 18th. I’ve X’ed out the names:
From: “XXX” <XXX@oscars.org>
To: <XXX@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:23:26 -0700
Subject: Re: Postal censorship
Have you seen the new Bette Davis postage stamp? It’s a photo from ALL ABOUT EVE, and after staring at it for a while I realized there was something… Read

The Motion Picture Association Of America just released this press statement:
Los Angeles – The nation's top movie companies filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to stop RealNetworks Inc. from distributing the company's RealDVD software which allows movies to be copied illegally. In their complaint and motion for a temporary restraining order, the studios said that RealNetworks' RealDVD violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) because its software… Read

1:00 AM: Media stocks recovered slightly while the rest of the Dow is regaining nearly 2/3’s of what it lost the day before. At first, no one could really give a decent explanation as to why the stock market headed up instead of down today. Because the financial bailout may be approved by Friday? Because the bill may not pass by Friday? Because investors sitting on the sidelines with cash under their mattress may be in the mood for some Dow bargain-shopping? Because the… Read

Scott Rudin confirmed to me Monday night that it is his email describing Harvey Weinstein’s alleged callous treatment of the late Anthony Minghella’s and the deceased Sydney Pollack’s families. Rudin also claimed to me that HW’s people all day pestered him “to protect Harvey and deny the email and lie to Page Six” — so he told me he did “in order to keep peace for the next weeks that the two of us still have to work together on The Reader.” See my previous, Read

It never fails to amaze me how studios convince themselves that up is down, and left is right. Here’s an internal MGM memo giddy over the possibility that the new trailer for Tom Cruise’s December 26th Nazi pic will translate into big biz:
From: Sandro Bellini [Digital Marketing | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc]
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2008 4:27 PM
Attached is an updated report on online buzz around the new Valkyrie assets:
OVERVIEWFavorable Tone Dominates Trailer…Read

The AMPTP tonight issued its response to today’s letter from SAG‘s Alan Rosenberg & Doug Allen asking Peter Chernin, Bob Iger, and Nick Counter to restart formal negotiations. Disappointing, but not surprising. Obviously, no one has bothered to tell Counter that his Big Media bosses keep telling Wall Street their business isn’t being hurt by the economic downturn, and, if anything, New Media revenues are through the roof. Yet Counter still tries to plead poverty to SAG… Read

The New York Post‘s Page Six just called me saying Harvey Weinstein has told them he’ll give $1 million to charity if I can produce the Scott Rudin email about HW’s alleged callous treatment of Anthony Minghella’s and Sydney Pollack’s families. Because Harv doesn’t think it exists. Question is, do I get to choose the charity? (UPDATE: As for Scott Rudin, he confirmed to me Monday night that it is his email and claimed that Weinstein’s people pestered him “to protect… Read